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I actually think Clement's overall a decent politician/person. He's not from the caveman wing of the Conservatives, anyways. But boy did he step in it with this. I am about the opposite of a public figure, and under no circumstances would I ever send identifiable sexually explicit photos to a long time girlfriend or spouse, let alone some stranger I met on Ashley Madison or some thing along those lines. But a politician doing that is just mind boggling. I haven't seen much detail yet on what happened, how he was lured in etc. It's totally irrelevant, but I can't help but be curious.

At least he's not leaving secret documents at his ex-biker hang-around girlfriend's place...

So he's been outright booted from caucus now, and Scheer has received reports that this has been a habit of his apparently, not just an isolated incident. The physical resemblance between Clement and Anthony Weiner is just the cherry on top, now.

“I would say I like all sorts of pictures on Instagram. I’ve never sent unsolicited harassing messages, ever,” Mr. Clement said.

I must say though, that the comments after that by Kim Fox make little sense to me. It made her and her friends feel uncomfortable that they were getting likes from him? Well then don't have a public profile, or don't approve people to view your private one, or whatever else. What she talks about isn't in the slightest bit harassing or untoward, at least as far as what's said in the article. Clicking "like" isn't the online equivalent of a firm pat on the backside or giving unsolicited back rubs. It's the equivalent of accusing a co-worker of harassment for saying "hi" and smiling as they pass you in the hallway.

Scheer says Clement no longer a Conservative MP after more allegations arise

Scheer said Clement brought the matter up with him last week, and that at a face-to-face meeting on Monday he was assured by Clement this was the first and only time he had done such a thing.

Tony Clement out of Conservative caucus after sending explicit images, video
"New information became available today that suggests there are allegations that this is not an isolated incident and therefore I've asked Tony to resign from caucus and he has done so," a sombre looking Scheer said.

That decision came just four hours after Scheer said Clement would remain in the caucus because, while sending such images was a "terrible lapse in judgement," it appeared to be between two consenting adults.

Scheer wouldn't give specifics about any of the additional allegations that led to Clement's caucus departure but said a party or parliamentary investigation is possible.

"We have to wait and see what happens in the short term as to what types of complaints are officially raised to obviously respond to that once it happens," he said. "There is a process on Parliament Hill with the human resource officer so that is something that could very well happen."

Since the news broke, there have been numerous accounts on social media from young women saying Clement had made them feel uncomfortable online, direct messaging them late at night with questionable messages.

Clement's role on the relatively new national security and intelligence committee of parliamentarians is a particular concern because he was given top level security clearance for it.

And it's not the first time he's gone to the police. And he admits that he lied to Scheer that it was only one time. Or did Scheer lie and hope that the other cases wouldn't come to light?

Clement admits to multiple infidelities, says foreign actors tried to extort him
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says he only found out today about a summer incident

Former Conservative MP Tony Clement, dropped from caucus over a public sexting scandal, is now admitting to multiple cases of "inappropriate exchanges" online and says it was "foreign actors" who tried to financially extort him.

For the first time, the Ontario MP is also admitting that he had to contact police not once, but twice over online transgressions — calling into question who in official Ottawa and law enforcement circles knew the details of the case, and when.

In a letter posted to his website on Thursday, one day after Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer asked him to leave the Tory caucus, Clement said that "during a period of personal difficulty and weakness I engaged in inappropriate exchanges that crossed lines that should never have been crossed."

Lack of covering himself and distributing photos online of his genitalia is apparently a small part of the issue.

jk aside I wouldn't give Scheer any blanket "out" on this one. He adopted a heinous business as usual response to the first incident in a shameful bit of whitewashing. Which only set himself up to be undressed as well when the further reports came in. In short he's at fault for trusting a man's word who had the *judgement* to engage in this behavior.

I guess the emperors really do have no clothes.

"if god exists and he allowed that to happen, then its better that he doesn't exist"

And it's not the first time he's gone to the police. And he admits that he lied to Scheer that it was only one time. Or did Scheer lie and hope that the other cases wouldn't come to light?

Clement admits to multiple infidelities, says foreign actors tried to extort him
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says he only found out today about a summer incident

Former Conservative MP Tony Clement, dropped from caucus over a public sexting scandal, is now admitting to multiple cases of "inappropriate exchanges" online and says it was "foreign actors" who tried to financially extort him.

For the first time, the Ontario MP is also admitting that he had to contact police not once, but twice over online transgressions — calling into question who in official Ottawa and law enforcement circles knew the details of the case, and when.

In a letter posted to his website on Thursday, one day after Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer asked him to leave the Tory caucus, Clement said that "during a period of personal difficulty and weakness I engaged in inappropriate exchanges that crossed lines that should never have been crossed."

Much ado about nothing.
Sorry, he used poor( very poor judgement) Lynne his wife, is standing by Jim

Well, if he broke some laws then it is much ado about something. If his behaviour is perceived as harmful or disrespectful to others or he lied to get an advantage of some sort then I’d say that’s potentially bad too.

He's the justice critic. He's got high level security clearance. He was on National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians until November 7th. And the fact that he exposed himself (pun intended) to blackmail on numerous occasions is ""Much ado about nothing"?

Of course H.L. would say that. He's a Conservative. They can do no wrong.

In reading the article, particularly the comment below, my thinking was that in retrospect the guy handed a lot of power over his own future to everyone he “followed”. Also, since this is social media I’d have thought all this was very much in the public domain, but I guess I’m wrong there.

I find the idea of an old guy going after teenagers, even if adults, rather disconcerting, however today’s society is making enormous strides in eliminating intolerance and becoming accepting of all people’s differences in attitudes, identities, cultural differences, sexual orientations, etc., etc., etc. ... so I guess equally there should be nothing seen as being wrong with old people having a thing for young people. If anything it would be my issue, not theirs.

So I’m not sure if it’s right for young people to call such old creepy guys: creepy. It’s not at all accepting of people’s differences, weird (and worse) as they can be.

‘Inappropriate’ but not illegal: Why women Tony Clement followed online are going public | Globalnews.ca

“It’s not easy to call someone out for sheer “creepiness.” Julie Lalonde, a women’s rights advocate and public educator, attributes that in large part to how people only seem to understand sexual violence and inappropriate behaviour in the context of what is and isn’t legal. A year after #MeToo prompted a wave of stories about sexual assault and harassment, Lalonde says now it’s time to address the fact that seemingly innocuous behaviour can have a deep impact on women — even if it’s not illegal.

“[If the behaviour is not illegal], does that mean we’re not allowed to be upset about it? Does it mean we’re not allowed to talk about what he’s done? Because I absolutely believe that the reason why women have not spoken about [Clement] prior to this moment is for that exact reason.” ...”

“The word creepy for women is actually used in a really specific context. We’re intimately engaging with creepiness on a regular basis.”

You learn to recognize it, Ethans says: the older man who clicks “follow: when you’re in your early 20s, the person who likes a series of weeks-old photos in succession, and the stranger who messages you at 1 a.m.

I imagine that in the past, in some people’s minds “alarm bells” went off when a black girl and a white boy were together. When a Christian and a Muslim, Jew etc dated...

Is it that the gender equality advocate above, doesn’t believe in age equality.

The ugly truth about ageism: it's a prejudice targeting our future selves | Life and style | The Guardian

“ “No prejudice is rational,” says Applewhite. “But with ageism, we have internalised it. We have been complicit in our own marginalisation and it will require active consciousness-raising to correct that, just as the women’s movement did. “

Clement told Conservative official months ago he was contacting police over Instagram account | National Post

“OTTAWA — As early as this summer, former cabinet minister Tony Clement informed a Conservative Party official that an Instagram account was “spreading lies about him” and that he was contacting the Ontario Provincial Police as a result, according to chief opposition whip Mark Strahl.

Clement said publicly this week that he went to the RCMP with a report that someone tried to extort money from him after he sent sexually explicit photos and video to a social media account he thought belonged to a consenting woman. ...”

“Tony Clement's admission that he told Ontario police over the summer that someone was trying to buy "intimate and personal information" he shared online raises questions about the effectiveness of the vetting process for a top-secret parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing the most sensitive work of the nation's security agencies. ...”

Yeah, H.L. won't see any possibility of Clement being blackmailed by “Brianna Dounia”

The woman to whom Tony Clement sent explicit images was really two guys from Africa, police say
Tony Clement was a member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians at the time he was corresponding with 'Brianna Dounia'

The “consenting female” MP Tony Clement sent sexually explicit images to online, leading to an extortion scandal, turned out to be two men from West Africa, RCMP say.

The men, known only by the initials CH and DML, allegedly posed as a white woman using the name “Brianna Dounia” on LinkedIn and Instagram. Police say they used the fake identity to lure Clement and later blackmail him over photos and video he sent to the account. Clement was allegedly threatened that the images and video would be released if he didn’t pay 50,000 euros. A French citizen was also allegedly extorted by the suspects.

Whataboutism gives a clue to its meaning in its name. It is not merely the changing of a subject ("What about the economy?") to deflect away from an earlier subject as a political strategy; it’s essentially a reversal of accusation, arguing that an opponent is guilty of an offense just as egregious or worse than what the original party was accused of doing, however unconnected the offenses may be.

The tactic behind whataboutism has been around for a long time. Rhetoricians generally consider it to be a form of tu quoque, which means "you too" in Latin and involves charging your accuser with whatever it is you've just been accused of rather than refuting the truth of the accusation made against you. Tu quoque is considered to be a logical fallacy, because whether or not the original accuser is likewise guilty of an offense has no bearing on the truth value of the original accusation.

The thing is, if Clement was clueless enough to send the pics to a pair of known scammers, he could just as easily have sent them to someone with more of an agenda of influencing the Canadian government.